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10 of the Best Narrator and Audiobook Pairings of All Time
When famous voices collide with famous stories, we all win. So this summer, whether you're driving cross country or cruising at 30,000 feet, give your eyes a rest—and your ears a treat—with audiobooks narrated by some of your favorite actors.
(And in case you didn't know, you can listen to free audio samples for over 180,000 Audible titles on Goodreads! Just look for the Listen icon on the Goodreads book page.)
Written by Kurt Vonnegut
Narrated by John Malkovich (Dangerous Liaisons, Being John Malkovich)
Suggested activities while listening: Wandering around a local arts festival, eating breakfast (too easy?), breaking down fourth walls
Written by Ernest Cline
Narrated by Wil Wheaton (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Stand by Me)
Suggested activities while listening: Visiting an immersive virtual world, hunting for obscure easter eggs, making the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs
*Bonus: Wheaton also narrates Cline's new book, Armada.
Written by Tina Fey
Narrated by Tina Fey (Saturday Night Live, 30 Rock)
Suggested activities while listening: Shamelessly snacking, waking up from a stress dream, trying on your own own pair of metaphorical bossypants
Written by Margaret Atwood
Narrated by Claire Danes (My So-Called Life, Homeland)
Suggested activities while listening: Contemplating your identity within society, babysitting, sticking it to the man
Written by Tim O'Brien
Narrated by Bryan Cranston (Malcolm in the Middle, Breaking Bad)
Suggested activities while listening: Cleaning your closet or garage, heading to the dentist, avoiding political debates on Facebook
Written by Harper Lee
Narrated by Sissy Spacek (Carrie, Coal Miner's Daughter)
Suggested activities while listening: Driving through tired old towns, collecting gifts from reclusive neighbors, shooting all the blue jays you want (if you can hit 'em)
*Bonus: Reese Witherspoon narrates Lee's follow-up, Go Set a Watchman.
Written by Richard Wright
Narrated by James Earl Jones (The Lion King, Star Wars)
Suggested activities while listening: Waiting for your home to be fumigated—and then realizing that, in a strictly figurative sense, you resonate more with the rat than with the fumigator
Written by Lemony Snicket
Narrated by Tim Curry (The Rocky Horror Picture Show, It)
Suggested activities while listening: Playing at the beach on a day you expect to hear very terrible news, "volunteering" at your community theater, setting things on fire
Written by Ray Bradbury
Narrated by Tim Robbins (The Shawshank Redemption, Mystic River)
Suggested activities while listening: Memorizing Fahrenheit 451 for that inevitable time when society rejects—and then is ready to accept—it
Written by Sun Tzu
Narrated by Aidan Gillen (Game of Thrones, The Wire)
Suggested activities while listening: Waiting for your enemies to fall into your carefully constructed trap or relaxing because you now fight all your wars without actually having to do battle
Have a favorite audiobook and narrator pairing? Share it with us in the comments!
Comments Showing 51-100 of 286 (286 new)
Elizabeth wrote: "Neverwhere narrated by Neil Gaiman himself. I love his voice!"EVERYTHING Neil himself reads is fantastic. He has the most incredible voice. He's my audiobook crush. ;)
For a fun romp of an audiobook series, listen to Luke Daniels read the Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Hearne.
Karen wrote: "For a fun romp of an audiobook series, listen to Luke Daniels read the Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Hearne."This is so true! I just love it when he voices Oberon the Irish wolfhound.
Have listened to both Stephen Fry and Jim Dale doing the Harry Potter series and recommend both -- but I give a slight edge to Stephen Fry. And David McCullough reading anything is great - he mostly does his own books. Ditto for Neil Gaiman reading Neil Gaiman.
Jeanne wrote: "I love audiobooks so I will have to try a couple of these out. My favorite pairing is the Jim Butcher series, The Dresden Files," read by James Marsters (of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame). The man ..."He is one of my favorite readers for audiobooks too!
Thumbs up to all of the Jim Dale nominations. The man is so amazing that when Harry, Ron and Hermione hear someone say the passphrase "It was not I who killed you, Albus." I knew it was Lupin before the kids figured it out!Recently, I listened to Anita Diamant's book The Boston Girl and I think I appreciated the book more for Linda Lavin's narration.
And one more, I have both read and listened to Abraham Verghese's Cutting for Stone and I really enjoyed Sunil Malhotra's narration.
There are so many great narrators out there. One of my favorite pairings is Simon Jones' reading of Jonathan Stroud's Bartimaeus series.
I'm not a big audiobook listener (I stick to shorter podcasts when it comes to audio entertainment), but my favourite voice of all time is that of Claudia Black. So her narration of The Museum of Thieves by Lian Tanner, and the other books in the same trilogy, is just so darn good.
Tina wrote: "Going to add The End of the Affair by Graham Greene read by Colin Firth, wonderful!"Hated the book, but I could listen to Firth read the phone book to me. :)
This list should be renamed good celebrity narrators because there isn't a professional narrator on the list!
Hugh Fraser reading Agatha Christie's Poirot mysteries and others (I think he did over 50).
Stephen Fry reading the Harry Potter series - AMAZING
I loved a youth fiction book called, Yolanda's Genius, narrated by Novella Nelson. Her voice was rich and soothing. I also loved listening to Frank McCourt's great Irish lilt reading his own book, Angela's Ashes.
Too many actor narrators in this list. Makes me think that the person that put this together doesn't really listen to audiobooks and just went for famous people.
D.G. wrote: "Too many actor narrators in this list. Makes me think that the person that put this together doesn't really listen to audiobooks and just went for famous people."Agree these sure aren't the best of all-time!
I've tried listening to audio books. I just can't get into them.
Gabriel wrote: "Silvana wrote: "Roy Dotrice for A Song of Ice and Fire." Roy Dotrice is absolutely terrible."False! Roy Dotrice is awesome!
I enjoy listening to David Sedaris read his own books better than reading them on my own. With his experience in radio, though, I suppose it's not surprising. It was so strange when I listened to Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk and he only read a handful of the stories!
The Outlander series narrated by Davinia Porter! YES, YES, YES. She does every accent and voice with such perfection. I listen to LOTS of audio books including good ones mentioned here, but she is perfection.
The Joe Ledger series read by Ray Porter is one of my favorite listens ever. He embodies Joe in a way matches immensely well with Jonathan Maberry's writing. So glad he's read all of 7 books so far.
Louise wrote: "Davina Porter reading the Outlander series is absolute perfection. The voices of the different characters is great."Yes, Yes, Yes. She is perfection for all the different voices and accents. I've listened to many audiobooks including some of these, and this is the perfect match. You want the story to never end. (And given the length of these books it almost doesn't!)
Wondering why you just chose Actor narrated audiobooks? I mean, apart from a few, they're not exactly noted for their narrating abilities.
The Good House by Anne Leary....narrated by Mary Beth Hurt. Her voice suited the character and the story perfectly. Made the book come alive.
Lynn Redgrave did an amazing job narrating "Inkheart" by Cornelia Funke. I could only listen to the first ten minutes of Brendan Fraser narrating the sequel, "Inkspell," before I turned it off and switched to a hard copy. And I second all those who can't believe Jim Dale's Harry Potter series didn't make the list!
Alicia wrote: "Jeremy Irons narrating Brideshead Revisitedand the team of narrators (Baymer, Duerden, Landor, Lee, Mills) from The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society."
Oh, man! Jeremy Irons reading Lolita! WHOA. Also, do anyone else who said Jeremy Irons and Lolita: I salute you.
Sarah wrote: "Jeremy Irons reading Lolita is amazing and the Jim Dale versions of Harry Potter"Jeremy Irons almost makes me think, "Yeah, I get what Humbert Humbert is saying." That's crazy voice magic right there.
Oh, just remembered Life After Life by Kate Atkinson, narrated by Fenella Woolgar. The story with her narration had me mesmerized for a 15 hour car ride!
Kim wrote: "I've tried listening to audio books. I just can't get into them."It took me a while to be able to listen to an audiobook. I went through a variety of titles and narrators, never being able to get more than a fraction of the way into it. But once I found a reader with a story I enjoyed, well, that was a step into a whole new realm. Now I always...well 90% of the time...have an audiobook on hand.
2 of the best pairings ever:Dresden files (Jim Butcher)and James MarstersJames Marsters
In death series(J.D Robb) and Susan Ericksen
Neil Gaiman reading The Graveyard Book. Pure magic.
Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter narrated by Edoardo Ballerini-fantastic. He also reads Knausgaard's My Struggle, so far I've only read Vol 1 but it was great. Also enjoyed Ralph Cosham reading the Louise Penny series. Unfortunately he recently passed away and they had to pick out another narrator for the new novel. George Saunders reading his own Tenth of December. Loved Juliet Stevenson's narration of Middlemarch and To the Lighthouse. Finally, Helen MacDonald reading her book H is for Hawk is wonderful!
Billie wrote: "I love the whole series of Sue Grafton Alphabet mysteries as read aloud by Judy Kaye."I was thinking the same. I don't think she narrated the first few in the series, so it took me a few minutes to adjust, and then I thought she was so perfect
Clacie wrote: "Aja wrote: "I don't remember who the narrator was, but listening to the Harry Potter books when I couldn't read the physical copies was very enjoyable."Jim Dale. And he was fantastic."
Good point! He was masterful and magical--one of the best performances ever, and he kept it up all the way through the series. I hear his voice now when I turn the pages
I love Alexie Sherman narrating his own books. Hilarious!Austenland narrated by Katherine Kellgren
I have honestly read other books just because she narrated them.
I second the vote for The Passage narrated by Scott Brick.
And I third (fourth? fifth?) the motion of Davina Porter narrating the Outlander series. So many voices, so many accents! How does she keep them straight?
Others:
The Book Thief narrated by Allan Corduner
Code Name Verity narrated by Christie Morven and Lucy Gaskell
The Rosie Project narrated by Dan O'Grady
The Jack Reacher series by Dick Hill
I love audiobooks! I've listened to (and enjoyed) most of the picks on this list, but I've also really loved:On Writing by Stephen King, Narrated by Stephen King
The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy, Narrated by Alan Rickman
Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick, Read by Karen White
I hadn't realized James Marsden narrated the Jim Butcher books. Glad I read the comments here - I'll be picking those up ASAP!
Donna Tartt does a great job narrating True Grit.
I listen to one (sometimes more ) audiobook per day.Because of some complications from chemotherapy 8 years ago, I can no longer concentrate on the written word in book size doses. A former avid reader, I've become a world class listener. My all time favorite pairing is
Adrian Mckinty and Gerard Doyle
Pure magic!
Listened multiple times
Stanley Tucci for The Postman Always Rings Twice and Jeremy Irons for Lolita. Tim Robbins also did an excellent job with The Great Gatsby.
"The Martian" read by R.C. Bray. One of the best audiobook performances I've ever listened to.
Gabriel wrote: "Silvana wrote: "Roy Dotrice for A Song of Ice and Fire."Roy Dotrice is absolutely terrible."
You are so very, very wrong!
Jeanne wrote: "I love audiobooks so I will have to try a couple of these out. My favorite pairing is the Jim Butcher series, The Dresden Files," read by James Marsters (of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame). The man ..."I 100% agree! I've listened to them all on audio and he is very good!
Gabriel wrote: "Derek wrote: "I have to put in a second for Marsters reading the Dresden Files"Agree. There was one book that was not read by Marsters, I believe it was Ghost Story, and it got terrible reviews b..."
Good news. It was rerecorded by Marsters. http://www.jim-butcher.com/posts/2015...
Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King, narrated by Will Patton. Perfect!!!
Asuka0278 wrote: "How on earth does this list NOT include the Harry Potter books narrated by Jim Dale?"The Stephen Fry version for me <3.
Though my favourite audio books are Max Brooks' World War Z and Samuel L Jackson reading Go The F**K To Sleep.
I can recommend Jayne Entwistle reading 11 years old Flavia de Luce. Awesome.And Neil Gaiman reading his own books is a real luxury.
Guilherme wrote: "The Martian, narrated by R. C. Bray was marvelous. I'm sure I would have had a lesser experience of this wonderful book if there wasn't a Mr. Bray narrating all those - ironic/clever/funny- tones."Completely agree with this! I feel that if I had read The Martian myself I wouldn't have enjoyed it as much as when I listened to it!
How is Stephen Fry with Harry Potter not on there?
Sandra wrote: "My favorite author/narrator pairings are J.D.Robb's In Death series read by Susan Ericksen and Robyn Carr's Virgin River/Thunder Point/Grace Valley series read by Therese Plummer."I must disagree with Sandra. I thought Susan Ericksen's reading of J.D. Robb was terrible.
A really good one is I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings read by the author.
Seconded so hard. I generally hate audiobooks, and that one I not only listened to the whole way through, I also loved it and preferred listening to it to reading it visually (although it was still awesome that way, too).