Audiobooks discussion
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An audiobook reader in action
Thanks, Kent. I recently got Tom Sawyer on audio from my library and couldn't get through it b/c I found the narrator's voice so irritating. :) But your friend does an excellent job! Would love to hear his full reading of the book. It's interesting to see the recording in action as well.
There is such a difference made by narrators. Most authors should not also try to be both. The qualifications vary so. Elizabeth Berg is a splendid narrator as is Dylan Thomas. I have had to quit good books because the narration was unbearable. Recorded books ( no financial interest) seems to do an outstanding job in choosing narrators.
Sandra, you're right about authors not being good readers. During the many years I have been listening to and reviewing audiobooks, I've given a lot of thought to the question of who make the best readers. For my taste, at least, the best are professional actors like Richard Henzel, Frank Muller, Davina Porter, George Guidall, Barbara Rosenblat, Jonathan Cecil, and Jim Dale who make serious second careers of audiobook recording.Next best are what I call celebrity readers--mostly big-name film actors--who do occasional audiobook recording on the side. They're generally okay but seldom rise to the heights of the best of my first group. An example of the best is Anthony Heald.
The biggest problem with celebrity readers is that they tend to overact by trying to act out each character's voice as if they were doing a radio play. The pros in my first category know to suggest individual voices. For example, a good male reader can suggest a female voice without adopting an exaggerated falsetto. Likewise, a good woman reader can suggest a male voice without attempting a deep bass delivery.
During my early years of audiobook listening, I was thrilled to find an audio edition of a Jeeves book read by Ian Carmichael at my local library. P. G. Wodehouse ranks at the top of my list of favorite authors to listen to, and Ian Carmichael had long been one of my favorite British comic actors. Moreover, Carmichael had played Bertie Wooster in a BBC series (apparently never broadcast in the U.S.) during the 1960s. The audiobook seemed like a match made in heaven. I popped the first cassette of the book into my car's cassette player and expected to be transported into audiobook heaven. Not quite. Before I had driven a mile, I knew I would never get through the book. Carmichael went to such great efforts to give every character an exaggerated voice, I couldn't stand listening to him. By the time I got home (and it wasn't a long drive), I was listening to something else.
Finally, my third category of readers are the books' own authors. As Sandra said, most authors shouldn't record their books. Few of them are trained in this work, and their intimate knowledge of their texts may get in the way of their vocal interpretations. The absolute worst reading I've ever listened to is Coretta Scott King's My Life with Martin Luther King. Pure torture, not relieved by the dullness of the text (all I remember was the seemingly frequent refrain, "Little did I then suspect ...").
I generally steer away from books read by authors, but occasionally I find one that I like. The best that I can remember is William Golding's recording of The Lord of the Flies. Not only does he read the book like one of my category 1 pros, he ends each chapter with an informal discussion of what he has just read, always encouraging listeners to draw their own conclusions and not be swayed by "expert" opinions. Would that more great authors record similar editions of their own books with the same ability and grace.
Kent
p.s. to Laurel. Do you remember who the reader was of that recording of Tom Sawyer that you didn't like? Could it have been Patrick Fraley? I like his recording myself, but I can see why others might not. He's the exception to my rule about actors overacting in their readings. He gives every character a distinct voice but makes a much closer study of the texts than most actors do and gets better results. At least for my taste.
Speaking of overacting, Dick Hlll, whom I had previously found to be an okay reader, recorded a biography of Abraham Lincoln that I found impossible to listen to. He reads the narrative text in the unemotional voice of a distant observer but every time he reads a direct quote from a historical figure, he tries to deliver it in what he imagines to be the figure's own voice. Listening to him read the book is like switching channels back and forth between The MacNeil-Lehrer Report and Hee-Haw. I'd rather listen to thumbnails scratching blackboards.
Kent,My library has 3 different versions of Tom Sawyer on audio, all apparently read by a different narrator. Patrick Fraley is indeed one of the readers, but I can't recall if that was the one I attempted to listen to or not. But I did find the narrator to over act, and couldn't get past the first CD. I actually just reserved all 3 so I can find the one I enjoy most. I loved the book as a child and really would like to revisit it again. I didn't see your friend's version for sale on his site? I saw some other books, but not that one.
I agree about how a narrator can make or break the telling of a story. There have been many books I've reluctantly had to give up on because the delivery was just so poor.
An example of a book read by the author that just did not work for me was Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier. His voice was so monotone throughout, with no inflections to indicate various characters, that it simply could not keep my interest.
Agreed, too, on many of the narrators you list -- all quite good!
Laurel,Richard Henzel is still working on Tom Sawyer, but if you keep an eye on his website (http://www.richardhenzel.com/), Audible.com, or other audiobook sites, it should turn up soon. Meanwhile, you might try one of his other books.
I've listened to recordings of Tom Sawyer by four different readers. The best, for my taste, is that of Norman Dietz (whom I should have put in my Category 1 list above). Absolute worst is Robby Benson's; however, his version is abridged, so it shouldn't count. I also like Patrick Fraley's version, but it's of a very different kind, as I explained above. Michael Pritchard's version is fine--like all his recordings--but didn't thrill me (like all his recordings). When Henzel finishes his recording, I expect it will move to the top of my list.
I also own an unabridged reading of Tom Sawyer by actor Jeff Chandler. Unfortunately, it's on 16rpm records, so I haven't been able to listen to it.
I've probably listened to at least one recording of every Mark Twain book ever recorded, and many of them I've listened to multiple times. Most of the recordings are fine, but few are great. Among my favorite recordings (as recordings) are these:
Norman Dietz's Roughing It
Dietz's Huckleberry Finn
Patrick Fraley's Huckleberry Finn
Richard Henzel's Pudd'nhead Wilson
Matt Dooley's Connecticut Yankee (I've listened to this recording five or six times; it never fails to please)
I've listened to only parts of Henzel's recording of Connecticut Yankee because my only copy is an MP3 disc that I can play only on my computer. Listening to books on a computer isn't something I do.
Incidentally, one of the best "readings" of Mark Twain that I've ever heard isn't an audiobook; it's a video production that Henzel did for WGBH-TV during the '80s: Mark Twain's Carnival of Crime. Performing as Mark Twain at home in his private study in this one-man performance, he narrates "The Facts Concerning the Recent Carnival of Crime in Connecticut," moving about and miming as the narrative unfolds. An amazing performance. I wish he would make it available online.
Kent
Kent wrote: "Sandra, you're right about authors not being good readers. During the many years I have been listening to and reviewing audiobooks, I've given a lot of thought to the question of who make the best ..."Kent, thank you for the list of good professional narrators. I think you have saved me much grief. The absolute worst I ever heard was Adriana Trigiana ruining one of her books by narrating it. The second worst was the attempt at a child's voice ( the main character) by the narrator of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. In both cases I quit listening early on.
Suggesting individual voices as you said makes for a much pleasanter listening experience. Would that that be required reading for any narrator!
Oh, I LOVED the narrator for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close! He also was the young male voice in Life of Pi, which I thought equally excellent. It's funny how different voices affect people differently.
One of my prized childhood possessions was Ian Carmichael's Winnie the Pooh!One of the few authors who read their own works well was Myla Goldberg's Bee Season. Ron McLarty's Memory of Running was terrific also, but he's both an author and a professional reader.
Laurel wrote: "Oh, I LOVED the narrator for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close! He also was the young male voice in Life of Pi, which I thought equally excellent. It's funny how different voices affect people di..."Laurel, I was listening on CD. Is it possible we were hearing diffferent narrators?
I listened on CD as well. I think the narrator was Jeff Woodman? I can see where his voice might be irritating, but I enjoyed it. That, I guess, can be the trouble with audio narration -- when you're not reading a book in your own voice, you are subject to the interpretation of a narrator, and that can affect people as differently as the book itself.John and Kent.. I've made note and will have to check out those audio-books you mention. I'm currently limited to audio, so it's always good to hear of ones that someone enjoyed (as well as ones to avoid!). :)
Sandra,Since I started listening to audiobooks about 17 years ago, I've been keeping detailed notes on them in a computer database, which now totals more than 700 entries (this figure includes audiobooks I own but haven't yet--and may never--listen to). Every time I finish listening to a book, I give it separate rating numbers for text and narration. (This is ironic, come to think of it, as I've decided not to give rating numbers to books I discuss on GoodReads). Perhaps I should use the database to create a summary list of readers with my average ratings for them. This is something I could easily do, but a complete list would be very long. If I do that, perhaps I should post the list on my home page (or whatever it's called; I'm still trying to figure out how GoodReads works).
What the heck ... I can post a short list right now. I use a 1-5 rating system, with 1 being best and 5 being worst. This list gives my average ratings for every reader for whom I've listened to at least five full-length books. As you can see, the lowest average score listed here is 2.8 (slightly above what I regard as average). I avoid books read by people who score lower. I should also add that these numbers include multiple listenings to the same books. For example, the only books read by Jim Dale (my only perfect "1" reader) are the Harry Potter books, and I've listened to all but one of them twice (I've also read print editions of some of them). Matt Dooley is listed here, but the only book he's read to which I've listened is Connecticut Yankee, and I've listened to it five times. This is not a scientific list.
If anyone is interested in seeing it, I could post my complete list, which has about 135 readers' name.
1
Dale, Jim (13 books)
1.1
Cecil, Jonathan (15 books)
Tull, Patrick (17 books)
1.4
Muller, Frank (36 books)
1.6
Dietz, Norman (13 books)
Davidson, Frederick (23 books)
Prebble, Simon (5 books)
1.7
Hecht, Paul (6 books)
1.8
Howard, Geoffrey (21 books)
Guidall, George (36 books)
1.9
Rosenblat, Barbara (14 books)
Lazar, Dan (15 books)
2
Dooley, Matt (5 books)
Rodska, Christian (7 books)
Adams, Alexander (7 books)
2.1
Lecat, Lisette (7 books)
2.2
Prichard, Michael (32 books)
2.3
Gaminara, William (6 books)
2.5
Case, David (15 books)
2.8
Green, Richard (12 books)
Jim Dale has the highest numerical score on this list, but I would rank Patrick Tull and Frank Muller higher. The Potter books are the only ones read by Dale to which I've listened; in contrast, the books read by Tull and Muller were written by many different authors. Jonathan Cecil is great, too, but the books read by him to which I've listened have all been P. G. Wodehouse titles.
I love listening to Dan Lazar's readings, but I suspect mine may be a minority opinion. He reads with a distinctly odd rhythm that perfectly suits Kurt Vonnegut books and some others, for my taste, but may irritate other listeners.
I know that tastes in audiobook readers are highly personal. More than once, I've turned on an audiobook by one of my favorite readers while I'm driving with my wife, and she has cried out, "Oh, what an awful voice!" Needless to say, I do almost all my listening while I'm driving ... alone.
Kent
Kent:Have you taken into account many readers use multiple aliases? Donada Peters (a/k/a Wanda McCaddon and Nadia May) springs to mind as a prime example.
Kent I would be delighted if you would post your complete list of readers' names. The more help the better as I am limited to books on audio and find it is taking some getting used to as this is a recent development because of serious chemical sensitivity to printer's ink.
John, I'm aware of some readers who use different names, but I haven't made a study of the subject. I've listed David Case and Frederick Davidson separately, though they are the same person. My problem is that I can't remember which is the real name.
I haven't listened to Ron McLarty read his own books, but I've heard him read three other books. He's not on my list because I don't have five entries for him in my database, but the three books I have entered give him an average rating of 1.3, which places him pretty high in my overall list. I especially liked his reading of Don Winslow's California Fire and Life
Kent
Another would be George Guidall reading as Jon McDonough.
Sandra,Serious sensitivity to printer's ink? Interesting. Does this problem afflict you with all books? I would think that the ink in really old books would be chemically almost neutral now.
Have you looked into Kindle editions? This is something that I want to know more about, especially as some of my own books are now coming out in Kindle editions.
John,I haven't encountered the name "Jon McDonough," but I would recognize George Guidall's voice the instant I heard it.
Here's a picture of Guidall reading that I found on the web about ten years ago:
Until I saw Richard Henzel's video of him reading, the Guidall picture was the only one I had ever seen of a professional book reader in action. It's interesting that Guidall is sitting down as he reads, and Henzel is standing up.
Sandra,Before posting my complete list, I can use some advice from someone regarding HTML codes. I'd like to post the list in a four-column format, listing names alphabetically, followed by three columns of numbers. Ideally, the numbers should appear flush right with their columns.
I've just experimented with some HTML codes but haven't figured out how to do this.
Kent wrote: "Sandra,Serious sensitivity to printer's ink? Interesting. Does this problem afflict you with all books? I would think that the ink in really old books would be chemically almost neutral now.
Hav..."Kent, this afflicts me with all books except those printed in soy ink, not a petrochemical derivative. I have just bought the Kindle 2 and am waiting for it to offgas before I know if it will work for me. Here's hoping. I have the disease multichemical sensitivity for which I spent a week in ICU. We are also affected by EMFs so must off gas electonics and cannot use some. It is a recently discovered condition which is now recognized medically and is covered under the American Disabilities Act. There is a genetic component.
Sandra,That condition sounds nasty. On the bright side, I suppose the next generation of Americans will never be afflicted by it because they'll grow up without ever touching a book or a newspaper.
I'll be interested to hear about what use you make of your Kindle. If you're interested in Huckleberry Finn, perhaps you'd care to give the new Penguin Classic edition for Kindles a try: http://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Huck...
I wrote about 17,000 words of annotations for that edition and supplied illustrations and appendices. I'm anxious to hear what readers think of it but have been frustrated by the fact that I don't know anyone (including me) who has a Kindle. All I've seen of my work on that book is a PDF file, which isn't quite the same thing.
If Penguin asks me to annotate another book, I'll try twisting their arms a little tighter than I did the first time, to see if I can get them to give me a Kindle.
Okay, here's my entire list of audiobook readers. Formatting the list as a table is too complicated for these postings. My original list had total hours for each reader, but I dropped those figures for the sake of simplicity. The numbers of books should suffice.Again, these are my personal ratings of all full-length audiobooks to which I have listened. My ratings numbers:
1 = best of the best
2 = very good
3 = average
4 = below average
5 = gawdawful
My average rating for this list is 1.9. If that number seems high, it's because my selection of audiobooks favors those with good readers. Also, that number would be lower if this list included books that I didn't finish listening to (often because of poor readers) and abridged books (I try to avoid them but occasionally listen to them). The only "5" I've ever given went to an abridged book.
I don't claim that these numbers represent anything but my own opinions about the books to which I've listened. I should also point out that my ratings of some readers vary greatly. George Guidall is an example; I've rated about a dozen of his books as 1 and the rest 2 and 3. If there's any significance in this list, it probably centers on the handful of readers whom I've consistently rated 1 on large numbers of books.
1.0
Anthony, Nigel (1 book)
Baker, Dylan (1)
Barrett, Sean (1)
Bergreen, Alan (1)
Bramhall, Mark (1)
Dale, Jim (13)
Heald, Anthony (1)
Hilton, Margaret (1)
Jacobi, Derek (1)
Kelly, Sam (1)
Ordunio, Doug (1)
Page, Michael (1)
Reading, Kate (1)
Stuart, David (1)
1.1 to 1.9
Cecil, Jonathan (15 bks; 1.1)
Tull, Patrick (17; 1.1)
Davidson, Richard M. (3 bks; 1.3)
McLarty, Ron (3; 1.3)
Muller, Frank (36; 1.4)
Fraley, Patrick (2 bks; 1.5)
Gardner, Grover (2; 1.5)
Porter, Davina (2; 1.5)
Runger, Nelson (2; 1.5)
Davidson, Frederick (23 bks; 1.6)
Dietz, Norman (13; 1.6)
Prebble, Simon (5; 1.6)
Hecht, Paul (6 bks; 1.7)
Guidall, George (36 bks; 1.8)
Howard, Geoffrey (21; 1.8)
Lazar, Dan (15 bks; 1.9)
Rosenblat, Barbara (14; 1.9)
2.0
Adams, Alexander (7 bks)
Alexander, Roslyn (1)
Barbour, Tony (2)
Barrett, Joe (1)
Brown, Blair (1)
Caruso, Barbara (1)
Cosham, Ralph (1)
Courtney, Stuart (1)
Crossley, Steven (1)
Deakins, Mark (1)
Dooley, Matt (5)
Doyle, Gerard (1)
Estell, Dick (1)
Farden, Jerry (2)
Fields, Anna (1)
Gerroll, Daniel (1)
Gibson, Flo (1)
Golding, William (1)
Hammer, Mark (2)
Hardin, Cindy (1)
Henzel, Richard (2)
James, Peter Francis (1)
Kelsey, Bill (4)
Kitchen, Michael (1)
Lambert, Nigel (1)
Lee, John (3)
Leffert, Joel (1)
Madoc, Philip (1)
Matthews, Richard (1)
McCaddon, Wanda (1)
McKeever, Larry (5)
Mesney, Peter (1)
Michael, Paul (1)
Monat, Donald (1)
Palmer, Geoffrey (1)
Parker, Tom (3)
Poe, Richard (1)
Richardson, Natasha (1)
Richmond, John (1)
Rodska, Christian (7)
Rose, George (1)
Scourby, Alexander (1)
Sellwood, Tom (3)
Shelley, Paul (1)
Spencer, Alexander (1)
Sullivan, Nick (1)
Thorne, Stephen (2)
Tucci, Stanley (1)
Whitfield, Robert (1)
Whitman, Peter (1)
Wilson, George (1)
Woods, Mary (1)
2.1 to 2.8
Lecat, Lisette (7 bks; 2.1)
Prichard, Michael (32; 2.2)
Gaminara, William (6; 2.3)
Martin, Gary (3; 2.3)
Brick, Scott (2; 2.5)
Case, David (15; 2.5)
Howard, Arliss (2; 2.5)
Keenan, Michael (2; 2.5)
Kandinsky, Wolfram (3; 2.7)
Green, Richard (12; 2.8)
3
Banks, Lynne Reid (1 bk)
Batho, Kristofer (1)
Cheyne, Angela (1)
Collette, Tom (1)
Collins, Kevin T. (1)
Doctorow, E. L. (1)
Dunne, Bernadette (1)
Forster, Robert (1)
Gaines, Boyd (1)
Hawke, Ethan (1)
Hill, Dick (1)
Hitchens, Christopher (1)
James, Lloyd (1)
Jayston, Michael (1)
Jones, John Randolph (1)
Kay, Christopher (1)
King, Stephen (1)
Kramer, Michael (1)
McPhillamy, Colin (1)
Moore, Christina (1)
Morse, Hayward (1)
O'Brien, Connor (4)
Peters, Donda (1)
Pleasence, Angela (1)
Sala, Ed (1)
Tanner, Jill (1)
Teti, Tom (1)
Turow, Scott (1)
Welch, Christopher Evan (1)
Whitaker, Bill (1)
White, Karen (1)
3.5
Chatty, John (3 bks)
Emerson, Brian (2)
McKee, Dennis (2)
Todd, Raymond (2)
4
Bottino, Pat (1 bk)
Brown, Richard (1)
Gage, Jeremy (1)
McQuay, Robert (1)
Roberts, Jim (1)
Williams, Fred (1)
I was interested to notice that although David Case and Frederick Davidson were the same person, my average rating for Case's 15 books is 2.5, considerably lower than the 1.6 average for Davidson's 23 books. I think the reason for this apparent discrepancy is the types of books Case (his real name) read under each name. He read a lot of P.G. Wodehouse books as "Davidson," and I gave most of those high marks. A lot of his "Case" readings are Hornblower novels that I didn't much care for (the readings, not the novels, that is). If I were to throw out all the Wodehouse and Hornblower titles, my ratings for Case and Davidson would probably be about the same. As I said before, my ratings ain't scientific.Incidentally, Case died four years ago at the age of 73. The Washington Post obituary is worth reading: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/...
Of particular interest is this comment about audiobook reading:
"Recording books on tape requires more than a fine voice and a skill with impersonation. Invisibility is encouraged on the part of the actor, who should convincingly bring alive the author's characters."
Not many readers have that ability to remain "invisible" while bringing characters alive.
I was familiar with Case before encountering Davidson; I believe the former name was for Books-on-Tape, and the latter Blackstone Audio; in his last works he sounded as though he had emphysema, or similar condition to me. I loved his readings of Trollope's Barchester sextet.
Kent,Thanks so much for your narrator ratings. It's so interesting to see how much people's tastes vary. I thought Dick Hill's narration of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was stellar. I've recommended it to so many people and he also won an Audie last year for it. I noticed that you like Frederick Davidson who I can't stand. I'm still looking for another version of War and Peace and A Passage to India. I have recordings that he has done for both of these books, but his women's voices really grate on my ears. I'll have to check out some of the narrators at the top of your list - thanks!
Also, another alias is Robert Whitfield is Simon Vance (who I think is fantastic).
Julie,Damn! I started a long reply to your note that has mysteriously disappeared on me. I'm still having trouble navigating GoodReads. This sort of thing has happened to me before.
Anyway, I started by saying that I found Kate Reading's Books On Tape recording of A Passage to India excellent many years ago. I particularly liked her renderings of character voices. An excellent reader who suggests rather than mimics voices.
Dick Hill's reading of Huckleberry Finn put me off a little for the opposite reason. I don't think he does a good job with dialect voices. My intimate familiarity with that book makes me difficult to please. Right or wrong, I expect the voices to sound certain ways, and what Hill delivers ain't what I'm expecting.
I have the same problem with dramatizations of P. G. Wodehouse stories, which I know practically by heart. I've yet to see a TV production that I can stomach. I can readily appreciate why many people have enjoyed Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry's depictions of Bertie Wooster and Jeeves, for example, but because they are not my Bertie and Jeeves, I can't stand watching them. Fry's Jeeves is especially far off the mark. (Wodehouse's Jeeves is never seen smiling, but Fry's Jeeves seems to be perpetually grinning.)
I'm sure it helps to approach an audiobook without preconceptions about the characters. If you're intimately familiar with Passage to India, perhaps you'll find Kate Reading's recording intolerable. I hope not.
Kate Reading does a good job with a similar story: The Painted Veil by Somerset Maugham.
Kent,What a fantastic list, thank for sharing. I too think Frank Muller was one of the better narrators and was saddened by his passing. My favorite of his books was the narration of Stephen King's The Dark Tower series. Unfortunately, he suffered his motorcycle accident and was unable to finish the series. George Guidall took over narration, and did a good job, but I felt it lacked something. Speaking of Stephen King, he has narrated some of his short stories and I've been pleasantly surprised with his narrations.
I also really enjoy Davina Porter. She has done an amazing job with Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series.
Other narrators I really enjoy are Susan Ericksen and Lorelei King. Both do a fine job of "suggesting" individual voices, which I agree is the mark of a great narrator. Susan Ericksen does the JD Robb In Death series, and no matter where I left off in the book, I can immediately pick up the conversation and characters because she gives such distinct voices to each.
And I too think Jim Dale is a true master. I loved listening to him every week narrate the short-lived Pushing Daisies TV show.
Amy,Frank Muller has long stood at the top of my list of favorite audiobook narrators. I think I first realized the power of a great reader while I was listening to his recording of a Ross Thomas novel and heard him invest more meaning into a single syllable--the word No!--than I had imagined possible. When I've gone to the public library to select audiobooks, I've often selected books I had never heard of before simply because Muller read them.
One of my little regrets in my life was missing the opportunity to meet Muller, who lived not far from me before his accident (I'm in Thousand Oaks, Calif.; he lived in Topanga Canyon, about 18 miles to my east). After I reviewed Patrick Fraley's recording of Huckleberry Finn for Library Journal, Fraley called me up to discuss the review. (My review was very positive, but it pointed out that the edition the publisher claimed Fraley had used was not the edition that he actually used.)
During my several-hour conversation with Fraley, I learned a great deal about audiobook recording. He also mentioned that he was a good friend of Muller's and that perhaps the three of us could get together for lunch sometime. Unfortunately, Muller was out of town at the time, and our lunch meeting never materialized. When I later learned of his terrible motorcycle accident, I knew it would never happen. His death is a great loss to the world of audiobook listeners. I can only hope that Recorded Books continues to make his recordings available forever.
Kent wrote: "Julie,Damn! I started a long reply to your note that has mysteriously disappeared on me. I'm still having trouble navigating GoodReads. This sort of thing has happened to me before.
Anyway, I s..."
Kent,
Thanks for the Kate Reading suggestion - I love her as a narrator - I'll definitely look for that edition. And I'm impressed that you are such a Mark Twain expert! What a wonderful author to know intimately.
Kent wrote: "Sandra,That condition sounds nasty. On the bright side, I suppose the next generation of Americans will never be afflicted by it because they'll grow up without ever touching a book or a newspape..."
Reporting back on Kindle 2 - I give it raves, but am unable to use it because of EMF sensitivity, so, alas, it goes to my son. Otherwise it is great. Easy to hold, to read, to order from Amazon with built in cell phone and connection to Amazon. No glare. Can select from 5 different font sizes. Easy to turn pages back and forth. Keys on cellphone tiny only complaint.
Julie,Thanks for mentioning that Robert Whitfield is an alias for Simon Vance. I love Simon Vance as a narrator and now I can add Robert Whitfield to my "look for" list.
Lets not be too unfair about authors reading their own books though! Some of them do a very good job. Neil Gaiman, for instance, is (IMHO) almost a better reader than he is writer!Orson Scott Card also usually reads a portion of his own books, and it turns out well. (Of course, he also has an acting background)
His daughter, Emily Janice Card, is just comming out as a reader, but I've enjoyed the things she's done so far!
Myla Goldberg does a great job reading her book Bee Season.
John wrote: "Myla Goldberg does a great job reading her book Bee Season."Well, I was merely generalizing when I said that most writers don't read their own books well. I'll stand by that observation.
Meanwhile, I'm currently trying something very different: listening to books on my new Kindle, which has a voice synthesizer. It's far from idea, but it's surprisingly good. It's a good way to listen to books that aren't available in standard audiobooks. I've already loaded more than 250 books (mostly public domain classics) on my Kindle--all for a pittance in download fees. It gives me a feeling of comfort to know that I'll never run out of listening material.
Incidentally, one of the great things about the Kindle is the ability to switch from reading off the screen to listening--while one carries the Kindle around or drives. As I said before, it isn't ideal as a listening device; however, it certainly is convenient.
As a generalization, I don't care for self-narrated books either. I was giving an example of one that does work, in case anyone is interested.
I picked up Bee Season from the library today. Thanks for mentioning this book.
I generally don't like authors reading their own works either but two major exceptions are Bill Bryson and Frank McCourt.
Since part of the idea behind Goodreads is to list and rate books you read, it is strange that they can't get together a rating/listing system for the narrators of audiobooks. Even Otis voted yes on my rating the narrators poll #5. Sorry that you John, found it confusing, AND destroyed a perfect voting streak ...hmm! I had to create my own private rating/listing database program and have not bothered to list here any more, since it is no point in doing it twice.
I guess I'm just too much of a contrarian, but I didn't mean to indicate that I oppose such a system.
John:you said in th erating the narrators poll:
Narration can be too subjective to be useful to me -- for example, I loathe Lorelei King's reading of the Stephanie Plum books, yet many others rave about her.
I don't understand where you are coming from. The whole of GoodReads is people's subjective opinions of books. So what is different about ratings of narrators?
John Sergeant
It's just me - I wouldn't find narrator ratings as useful as regular ones; I repeat that I'm not opposed to having them!
John wrote: "Kent:Have you taken into account many readers use multiple aliases? Donada Peters (a/k/a Wanda McCaddon and Nadia May) springs to mind as a prime example."
Donada Peters is my absolute favorite. She has read some Rosamunde Pilcher, and also some of the unabridged Cazelet Chronicles by Elizabeth Jane Howard. Her voice is almost musical.
Sandra wrote: "Kent wrote: "Sandra, you're right about authors not being good readers. During the many years I have been listening to and reviewing audiobooks, I've given a lot of thought to the question of who m..."I agree that Lorelei King as Stephanie Plum is awful. Lorelei is dry-witted and much more sophisticated. Stephanie is supposed to be spunky and somewhat goofy. A total mis-cast.
I did not mean to put you on the spot John. But if there was a rating for the narration, I would look into work that I might otherwise not try if I found a high rating for the narrator. If it was possible to search for my favorite narrators on GoodReads, then that would help me find audiobooks that I might enjoy.
I can't wait for the audiobook publishers to realize that you might need more than one narrator to do the same work. Each of us have their own taste in how we experience the narration. So besides the authors, new stars of narrators could be borne.
Beth: Thanks, I shall consider giving King a try at reading something other than Stephanie Plum.S G: I would be willing to participate in a narrator rating scheme, but I doubt I'd go by a number alone, without specific written comments as well. I agree about choice for the same work - Audible sometimes has versions of (the same) classics by different readers, and I've found a marked difference in sampling each.
Hey, you are coming around... The idea behind listing/rating the narrator/narration would give you the possibility to search for books from this angle as well. A nice touch I think.
An author I thought did justice to his book was William Peter Blatty reading The Exorcist. His Burt dennings and Inspector Kinderman in particular were spot on.
John wrote: "Another would be George Guidall reading as Jon McDonough."John, although there are some similarities I don't believe you are correct about Guidall and McDonough being the same person. See this page: http://www.recordedbooks.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=basics.about_narrators
Simon Vance also goes by Richard Matthews sometimes. (Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything). I agree that Davina Porter's narration on the Outlander Series (and a couple other things I've heard her do) is the "best of the best".
Audiobooks
Books mentioned in this topic
At Home: A Short History of Private Life (other topics)At Home: A Short History of Private Life (other topics)
Check it out. It's fascinating to see a professional reader at work. Also, check out Henzel's audio editions, which are available on audible.com and other sites. I especially recommend his recording of Pudd'nhead Wilson.