Reddit discussion

I have a 35 min commute every day so I listen to a lot of audio books.

Today two of my holds came in at the library: This Immortal and The Dying Earth.

Which should I listen to first?

I would also like to start this thread as a way to recommend good audio books to one another or point out particularly good/bad recordings.

I just finished on audio and it was phenomenal. The reader (performer?) was fantastic. Another highlight from last year was A Scanner Darkly read by Paul Giamatti.

There is a version of Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said floating around out there with a reader who is just dreadful and made me unable to finish (though I have no problem just reading it, too).

Any other recommendations? Warnings?Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell

I listened to the same version of A Scanner Darkly. It was amazing. Paul Giamatti did a great job.

I also go through a lot of audio books. I really enjoyed Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. The narrator was very funny. I believe she is British (or English...) and when she described the unmentionables it was well glorious.

Joe Abercrombie's First Law series is very good for dark fantasy. The narrator gives different accents/voices to all the characters and does a great job at it.

I will also suggest David Sedaris' books provided you listen to the ones he narrates. So funny.

You will find a lot of "bad" recordings online. Bad rips off cassette tapes but if the narrator is worth his salt, static and the tinny sound shouldn't detract at all from the story (provided the author does his job). For example, I listened to the 'Memory, Sorrow and Thorn' series by Tad Williams, it was a poor quality cassette rip but they had a good quality narrator. I will still recommend the series to any person who likes fantasy.

I would say avoid Clive Mantle as a narrator, his normal speaking voice is fine but he tries to do accents and they are horrible. Especially his American southern drawl... *shudder*

My favorite narrators:



1) Carol Cowan
2) Michael Hanson
3) Grover Gardner

Vorkosigan Saga

4) Simon Vance

The Millennium Trilogy and many more.

5) John Lee

Tai Pan, Noble House, etc.

6) Stephen Fry

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

7) Jim Dale

Harry Potter series.

8) Steven Pacey

First Law Trilogy, etc.

9) Kate Reading

Bellwether; various fantasy books - made Robert Jordan's books almost bearable.




Worst Narrators of all time:

1) Madeleine L'enge

No one knows why they let her narrate her popular children's book. Some say it was a prank, others call it trolling. One thing's for sure, Madeleine L'enge's voice sounds like ass.

2) A. J. Jacobs

Love his books. Could probably do without ever hearing his voice again. It's like molasses, but slower. You need 2x replay speed to make the narration sound English.

3) Scott Sigler

This man got famous narrating his own book and distributing it as a free podcast. His voice sounds like a masturbating polar bear.

4) David Case

He's constantly straining not to fart. I wish I was joking. Find one of his audio books; listen to it; believe me.

5) Donna Tartt

I heard her voice once. In my worst nightmares.

Raul Esparza reading Under the Dome by Stephen King is the best voice actor that comes to mind. I listen to a lot of audio books and his characters still give me the chills.

Neil Gaimon reads most of his books and does a really good job. He's also one of my favorite authors so it's a win win for me.

The worst voice other I've ever heard will go unnamed (because I don't know it.) It was the last book in the Honor Harrington series that I nabbed online. The first 10 books or however many there were were done well, all be in cassette rips for the blind. The last book had a new voice author and she changed how a lot of the names were pronounce and had awkward pauses that really destroyed the flow: "And she ran up the stairs to....fire....the...space cannon." Really horrible.

I just finished Sirens of Titan in audio format read by Jay Snyder and he did a good job. I'm on to Breakfast of Champions read by Stanley Tucci now and he's doing great.