Audiobooks discussion

I've often heard comments about various narrators on audio books. Have you found some narrators who are especially good? Who are they and what makes them stand out as being especially effective?

Also, on what book recording did you hear them?

I've just discovered Simon Vance who narrates my current audio CD of _The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo_. Simon Vance is a terrific reader! He dramatizes each part so well, often in a different tone of voice and/or accent. He enhances the entire experience!

Below is a link to the audio edition:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33...
It's by Random House.

I see that there is already a similar thread here. It's at:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/4...

I will check it out.

I think I may be the only person in this group who actively avoids Simon Vance. I find him too monotone.

I like Oliver Wyman a lot. He narrated The Irresistible Henry House: A Novel. He did a great job with both women's & children's dialogue.

Victor Bevine is very good too. He really sounds like he's telling a story rather than reading it.

For female narrators, I like Kate Reading a lot. She does a perfect job.

Thanks for your comments Sandi. I'll keep those narrators in mind.

Simon Vance is quite talented. However, I wouldn't exactly want to hear him read the phone book (as the saying goes). I gave up on his reading of The Little Stranger, and will read the ebook instead.

Off the top of my head, I'll nominate Barbara Rosenblatt, who does terrific male voices, and overall a great job of keeping characters differentiated. She's done a lot but her narration of Elizabeth Peters' series featuring lady archeologist Amelia Peabody, as well as Bridget Jones's Diary, where she really brought out the parody aspect of it for me.

Davina Porter is another truly professional reader. If you're familiar with Muriel Spark, Porter did a terrific job with Aiding and Abetting.

Alyssa Bresnahan is another - she did an outstanding job with The Lovely Bones, and I'm looking forward to hearing her read The Age of Innocence.

I've raved about this before, Joy, but George Guidall's narration of Tony Hillerman's series featuring Navajo detectives Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn is one the best "fits" I've run across -- truly as though the books were written with Guidall's voice in mind as Hillerman typed the drafts!

Tavia Gilbert is a relatively new name, but I'd say she has quite a future based upon my listening to The Tenth Parallel (she doesn't just read nonfiction).

Recently, I've enjoyed Martin Jarvis's reading of the Victorian spoof/farce The Diary of a Nobody, as well as John Mortimer's Summer's Lease (a parody of Brits in Italy).

There are others, but that's enough typing for now!

Thank you, John. This will be a helpful reference when I go to choose audio books.

You've mentioned many interesting titles too, many of them mysteries. Mysteries which are too convoluted are difficult for me. So I've tended to avoid mysteries. However, I have found some which are simple enough for me to keep up with. Funny, but I don't enjoy complicated puzzle quizzes either. I think that in order to keep up with a complicated mystery, one has to have a good short-term memory. I don't seem to have that when it comes to remembering who is who and who did what. It's a terrible limitation. Sorry to go off topic.

The Hillerman ones are as much about the Navajo setting as the mystery angle themselves.

That's an area I haven't explored at all.

Robin Bailey did a great job in "A Town Like Alice" by Nevil Chute.

Betsy wrote: "Robin Bailey did a great job in "A Town Like Alice" by Nevil Chute."

Betsy, below is a link to the edition you referred to with Robin Bailey as the narrator:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/98...

Here's the same book read by Leo McKern:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60...

Here's the same book read by Neil Hunt:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/80...

It's interesting that there are so many different narrators for one book. That tells me that it helps to be aware of which narrators are preferred.

Also, I noticed that not all the audio editions described by GR indicate who the narrator is.

Adding narrators is an ongoing process, Joy. We librarians clean that up where we can.

I wondered about that, John. Keep up the good work.

My favorite narrators are Tom Parker (Grover Gardner) and the Anna Fields (Kate Fleming). Alas, Anna Fields passed tragically back in 2006. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Fields

She narrated a huge number of titles (over 200), so I'm always finding works of hers that I haven't heard yet. I first heard her listening to Kate Wilhelm's excellent Barbara Holloway legal mystery series (Death Qualified is the first). I've been thoroughly hooked on Anna Fields' narrations since.

I was introduced to Tom Parker's narrations via Letters from Atlantis and Sailing to Byzantium: Library Edition, by Robert Silverberg. In fact the latter books (novellas in length, actually) by Silverberg were the first two audio books I ever read.

Those two narrators are the ones that got me shopping for readers as much as authors.

I should add that Carrington MacDuffie has been narrating later titles in many of the series started by Anna Fields. Her style is somewhat different than Fields' but she does a great job and I'm fond of her narrations as well.

Now that I've paid attention to the rest of the thread, I'd also better point out that some of the book links I provided above are not for the audio editions - I couldn't find those here at Goodreads. The audio editions for the Wilhelm and Silverberg titles were all published by Blackstone Audiobooks.

Big Al Mintaka

Al --

I was (am) a huge fan of Anna Fields as well. In Morocco was the last work of hers I heard a few months back. Grover Gardner is fine, though I wouldn't say he's one of my favorites.

One who got me started on reader first, plot second was David Case (Frederick Davidson).

Alan wrote: "My favorite narrators are Tom Parker (Grover Gardner) and the Anna Fields (Kate Fleming). Alas, Anna Fields passed tragically back in 2006. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Fields ..."

Thank you, Alan.

John wrote: "...One who got me started on reader first, plot second was David Case (Frederick Davidson). "

Thanks for that tip, John. After some finagling at Amazon, I figured out how to get a listing of his narrations. I was surprised to see Three Men on the Bummel, by Jerome K. Jerome. I had no idea that any of his books were on CD. Years ago I bought a copy of what is supposedly the first US edition of his Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow and have been collecting his books ever since. He's one of the best humorists I've ever read.

I also listened to a sample of Case's narration of The Hound of the Baskervilles (Audible has the edition he narrates). I liked it and am going to give it a try.

Big Al Mintaka

Alan wrote: "My favorite narrators are Tom Parker (Grover Gardner) and the Anna Fields (Kate Fleming). Alas, Anna Fields passed tragically back in 2006. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Fields

She narrated a..."

I've been a fan of Anna Fields for years as well. And I love the Barbara Holloway series by Kate Wilhelm (I think Kate is 85 or so now!). However I have read all that series in print version, I will have to look for the audio versions at my library.

Alan wrote: "John wrote: "...One who got me started on reader first, plot second was David Case (Frederick Davidson). "

Thanks for that tip, John. After some finagling at Amazon, I figured out how to get a li..."

I thought "Bummel" a huge disappointment! If you like "Three Men in a Boat", listen to To Say Nothing of the Dog instead!

First - thanks for working behind the scenes as librarians here to add the audio narrators to the GR listings. Much appreciated. I use my library as a resource for those references but since there are often multiple versions with different narrators it isn't always accurate and budget cuts seem to limit audio book purchases lately.
Actors can make for good audio book readers too. I am listening to Alice Hoffman's books when I can instead of print partly because of Nancy Travis's reading of The Story Sisters. I have decided I am not a huge fan of short stories on audio though. The time constraints I have on my commute seem to cut off short stories at inappropriate times much more often. As a result The Red Garden is more choppy than it would be with each story read in one sitting.

Janice wrote: "I've been a fan of Anna Fields for years as well. And I love the Barbara Holloway series by Kate Wilhelm (I think Kate is 85 or so now!). ..."

In that case you might also be interested in the Nina Reilly legal mystery series by Perri O'Shaughnessey (if you haven't already read any of those). The audio versions are mostly narrated by Laural Merlington. They aren't as good as the Barbara Holloway books but the former did set a pretty high standard. In addition, sometimes the male characters in the Reilly series come across as a little on the bizarre side. However the backdrop is very similar - a strong female defense attorney cracking tough cases in detective work and court. Good stuff. The first in that series is Motion to Suppress.

Big Al Mintaka

John wrote: "I thought "Bummel" a huge disappointment! If you like "Three Men in a Boat", listen to To Say Nothing of the Dog instead! . "

Hmm... Comparing Connie Willis to Jerome K. Jerome in any context is unusual, but "To Say Nothing..." is already on my reading list for her, after the newer Blackout and All Clear books. I've been a fan of hers since Lincoln's Dreams.

I agree that "Bummel" was not nearly as good as "Idle Thoughts..." or its predecessor "Three Men on a Boat". I used it as an example because it was a David Case narration and I was astonished to find any Jerome K. Jerome book in audio. After hearing his voice in sample narrations, I wish that Case had also done "Idle Thoughts..." but if he did I haven't been able to find it.

Big Al Mintaka

I just finished rereading "LORD Of The FLIES" I enjoy reading the volume as I listen to the tapes, CD, wherever I vocally can get it. The tapes I used were read by Golding and it was supreme. Being the author he spoke as the author between chapters which really added to the read. His read was several years after the writing so his remarks were so much the better. I bought the tapes at a Friends of the Library sale. And I browed the volume from library.

Speaking of "author as reader" titles, I recently read Hitch-22, read by Christopher Hitchens. Because this is a memoir, and because this man may die very soon from esophageal cancer, I simply cannot imagine this being read by anyone else.