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Librivox book discussion
Claire wrote: "Not sure if you know this, Josh, but Elizabeth Klett is an American. She's a popular reader on LibriVox. I loved and would highly recommend her reading of Lady Audley's Secret. ..."
Oh good because Lady Audley's Secret is on my TBR list :)
Just starting The Way We Live Now narrated by Debra Lynn. Her narration is OK - not loving it but not hating it either.
Thanks to Goodreads, we’ve discovered that certain LibriVox titles have been made available on Audible.com contrary to Audible terms and conditions. We are now removing these titles from the Audible store.
Do we let you know if we find any more? If so, how?
Ruth wrote: "Do we let you know if we find any more? If so, how?"Hey Ruth,
If you come across any other LibriVox audiobooks on Audible.com, please send an email to social-support@audible.com.
Ruth, Karen Savage's LV version of Pride and Prejudice has been on Audible for some time. Should I email them or would you like to do it? :) http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sr_1_1?...
I also discovered the LV recording by Adrian Praetzellis of The Wind in the Willows. http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sr_1_3?... However, in a review of the recording, the reviewer refers to Mark Smith as being the narrator. It's definitely not Mark -- it's Adrian.
If you look under PDQ Audiobooks on Audible, 4 books are found. They've added music to the beginning but the recordings by Karen and Adrian were lifted straight from LV. PDQ has Alice in Wonderland as being recorded by Peter Yearsley. Peter did record this book for LV but it's not Peter's voice coming out of the sample on Audible. Bit of a mess.
Sorry about the hijack, John. Mea culpa.
To get us back on track, I would recommend just about any book recorded by Andy Minter on LibriVox. Wonderful narrator!
Lee Ann
This "hijack" is fully approved by me.
I try to stay away from Librivox recordings completely. Maybe they are completely free, but they are all done by volunteers. Some narrators there have abominable accents, which makes the books even more painful to listen to. Some don'T even know how to pronounce an author's name correctly! On top of all that, they don't even try to catch and correct pronunciation errors, just the opposit! They force their listeners to ignore them!
Of course, Karen Savage is an exception. There may be some more, but the recordings I listened to three years ago were attrocious!
Dora - I have listened to (and abandoned) some Librivox recording which were terrible but I have also heard some that are marvelous. Rather than slam the entire enterprise, why not look over this thread and try one of the recommended Librivox recordings?
Looking at your profile, Dora, I am simply amazed that you have never given the LibriVox recordings of Dickens' novels a chance. If you have never heard Mil Nicholson's recordings of Dickens or Elizabeth Klett's recordings of Mrs. Gaskell, then you are missing out. Poor you! But then it is so easy to condemn everyone with one stroke of the pen, isn't it? So much easier than making the effort to look for readers that you like.
I've said it before, I'll say it again - Librivox contributes to worldwide literacy, and for that I'm eternally grateful. I haven't used LV in years, but I woukd still recommend it. The volunteer narrators are charming!
Oh, and I just have to say...every Eastern European I've ever met has an accent. I love accents!
Jennifer (E-reads, E-listens, E-breathes) wrote: "Oh, and I just have to say...every Eastern European I've ever met has an accent. I love accents!"I speak English with a British accent, that is why I'm so picky about accents.
There are a lot of British people among Librivox readers, and yes, I've given a chance of some recordings. There were a few I liked. What I wrote above is my opinion about the vast majority of their recordings. I just can'T stand it if a classic English novel is read with an accent.
However, I'm open to recommendations, as I do appreciate what they are doing, even though I prefer professionally-recorded books. I've even heard that there are some very high-quality recordings on Librivox, ones that are just as good as professionally-recorded books. Having read some of the posts here, I may return to Librivox and look for the recordings you mentioned above.Do you happen to know any good narrators for poetry?
Do you happen to know any good narrators for poetry?
"I try to stay away from Librivox recordings completely. Maybe they are completely free, but they are all done by volunteers. Some narrators there have abominable accents, which makes the books even more painful to listen to."Hey, Dora, that's exactly why I created this thread. I'd like for there to be a place that culls the wheat from the chaff of librivox. Ruth Golding, Karen Savage, Mil Nicholson, Andy Minter, and a few others might as well be professionals (although I will admit I've heard the occasional mis-pronunciation - but only very occasional).
I don't know any good poetry narrators - I've never looked for any poetry there.
Dora wrote: "However, I'm open to recommendations... Do you happen to know any good narrators for poetry?"Dora, you can check out the Weekly and Fortnightly Poetry readings on LibriVox to find a reader you may like. Each week, LV chooses a poem and has as many readers as possible record it. The same with the Fortnightly poem.
Also, you might be interested to know that there are professional voice-over actors who have narrated for LV but choose not to use their own name in the catalog OR on the recording.
I understand that you don't care to hear any accent but a British one for classic English novels. How do you feel about British accents for classic American novels? I remember one of our English members recording Nathaniel Hawthorne's American classic The House of the Seven Gables. I had no problem with that but I wondered if you only applied your standard to British accents. :)
Thank you all for your very helpful recommendations. I'm a book binder and often spend long hours in my studio. Librivox makes my studio days and work life very nice for me. I'd like to endorse the following readers as especially wonderful. I'll listen to anything they choose to offer:
Adrian Praetzellis
Peter Yearsley (aka Peter Why)
Andy Minter
Maria Kasper (aka commonsparrow3)
Termin Dyan (especially Zuleika Dobson!)
Mil Nicholson (aka gloriana)
Karen Savage
As I have benefited from your excellent suggestions, I'll continue to post exceptional LV readers here and hope others will do the same.
Many thanks!
(Ps. *EVERYONE* has an accent. Yes, you too Dora.)
Luce wrote: "Mil Nicholson (aka gloriana)"Just to correct, Mil Nicholson is aka Mermaid. Elizabeth Klett is aka gloriana :).
Both absolutely excellent readers.
Ruth
Don't know if anyone has mentioned Nicholas Clifford earlier in the thread. He heroically works his way through a host of Henry James novels - not the easiest of novelists to read aloud - as well as a bunch of other stuff. I'd say he compares favourably to the others mentioned here.
I also liked Robert Keiper's reading of The Seventh Man and The Window at the White Cat.
Luce wrote: "Thank you all for your very helpful recommendations. I'm a book binder and often spend long hours in my studio. Librivox makes my studio days and work life very nice for me. I'd like to endorse..."
Luce, I think that Termin Dyan is Andy Minter reading with a pseudonym. If you rearrange the name, it reads Andy Minter. :D
Of course! Plainly obvious, now you point it out to me.And the voice is identical. Wonderful reader, one of the very best.
Many thanks!
You're welcome, Luce! I thought it was cute when Andy chose that name. :)
Dora wrote: "Do you happen to know any good narrators for poetry?"I would particularly recommend Alan Davis-Drake (1945-2010). I particularly like his version of Carl Sandburg's Jazz Fantasia.
I am enjoying Librivox recordings.One recording which may not have been mentioned already is Seven Little Australians by Ethel Turner, read by Ophelia Darcy. The Aussie humour is captured well by Ophelia. I would love to find more of her readings.
I must have been lucky in finding Andy Minter as the reader of the other two books I downloaded, The Prisoner of Zenda and Rupert of Hentzau. He manages to capture the slightly snobbish attitude of the hero (and the period), with enough warmth to retain the listener's involvement and interest.
I appreciate those many readers who have volunteered so much time and effort. It's a wonderful resource.
Seven Little Australians is the only solo recording that Ophelia has made. The advanced catalogue search allows you to search by reader, author, title or in other ways, but I'd mention that our system will be changing radically within the next few weeks. I will try to remember to return and update that link.
Thanks for the link to the advanced catalogue Ruth. I shall try it right away.
Luce wrote: "Thank you all for your very helpful recommendations...Termin Dyan (especially Zuleika Dobson!)..."
Thanks for the recommendation, as I am planning on reading Zuleika Dobson this year:)
I am enjoying Bob Neufeld narrating The Hound of the Baskervilles (version 2) very much!http://librivox.org/the-hound-of-the-...
On listening to many chapters of Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope I found that an obvious foreign accent by no means impaired my enjoyment of the book.I greatly appreciate the efforts of all of those involved.
Some readers mispronounced (or misunderstood) terms which are no longer in common parlance outside of an English parish setting (eg diocese, collect - as a prayer), but this was a minor distraction.
I enjoyed Eva Harnik's readings very much. Her accent seemed unusual at first but she so clearly understood and relished the turns of phrase and the pointed observations and asides made by the author that it was an absolute joy to listen to her. It was a meticulous reading, a gem. Andy Minter and Kirstin Ferreri also stood out.
Leslie wrote: "Luce wrote: "Thank you all for your very helpful recommendations...Termin Dyan (especially Zuleika Dobson!)..."
Thanks for the recommendation, as I am planning on reading Zuleika Dobson this year:)"
Note that Termin Dyan is an anagram for Andy Minter - same very good reader. (Nice that this thread is still going. I'll have to skim and see what's new.)
Has anyone put anything about He Knew He Was Right (by Anthony Trollope, read by Arielle Lipshaw) in this thread?Really good. It was my commuting companion for two months. I've only read two things by Trollope, but I really like him.
Arielle Lipshaw has a great clear voice. The only thing is that she reads a bit fast (so does Karen Savage, in my experience). If I had the means to digitally slow down her voice 5 or 10% I would do it.
Depends how you listen, bup. VLC Media Player (free) will play at reduced or increased speed without any difference in pitch. Or, to permanently change the playback speed, you could import into Audacity and use the Change Tempo feature (NOT Change Speed, which also affects the pitch) and then re-export as MP3.
Leslie wrote: "Dora - I have listened to (and abandoned) some Librivox recording which were terrible but I have also heard some that are marvelous. Rather than slam the entire enterprise, why not look over this ..."As usual we agree!!!
I've just started listening to A Room with a View read by Ekisabeth Klatt: she reads incredibly well. She is one of my favourite in librivox.
I just finished listening to Alan Chant narrate The Mystery of Edwin Drood, which was excellent! Only a few minor complaints - the cathedral bells at the beginning of each chapter and the narration was a bit slow. This second wasn't really a problem for me as I just set my iPod to 2x speed.
Only a few minor complaints - the cathedral bells at the beginning of each chapter and the narration was a bit slow.This was an earlyish recording, before we disallowed music/sound effects (mostly for the difficulty in verifying absence of copyright). As with bup's comment above, reader speed is very much a matter of taste, both the reader's and the listener's.
Ruth wrote: "Only a few minor complaints - the cathedral bells at the beginning of each chapter and the narration was a bit slow.This was an earlyish recording, before we disallowed music/sound effects (mostl..."
As I said, these were minor. I would have no hesitation in recommending this recording :)
Leslie wrote: "I just finished listening to Alan Chant narrate The Mystery of Edwin Drood, which was excellent! Only a few minor complaints - the cathedral bells at the beginning of each chapter and the narratio..."I may listen to it then, and not read it! I'll see if the connection here in Sardinia works!
I'm only a quarter of the way through it, but David Clarke's reading of
The Count of Monte Cristo
is really good - professional quality - and (in my opinion) fills in a glaring hole of the books available as solo works at Librivox. I've wanted an unabridged audio version of this book for years.
bup wrote: "I've wanted an unabridged audio version of this book for years."I suppose you could always have bought one. Naxos has one for a mere 120 good British pounds... and you get plenty of mouth noise thrown in for free ;).
Thanks to recommendations on this forum we've had some happy hours listening to Bob Neufeld reading The Hound of the Baskervilles (version 2), Adrian Praetzellis reading The Wind in the Willows(version3) and Robert Keiper reading The Window at the White Cat. We loved all of these. Thanks very much to all concerned and to the people who recommended them.
Really enjoyed a BBC radio drama production of Lady Audley's secret. Classic Victorian thriller with all the right bits: lovely haunted lady, young rich man with nothing to do but dig into her past, richness of the English class struggle and of course, the secret!
Luce wrote: "I'd like to endorse the following readers as especially wonderful. ...Termin Dyan (especially Zuleika Dobson!)
..."
Just finished listening to this - thank you for the recommendation! It was marvelous :)
bup wrote: "Has anyone put anything about He Knew He Was Right (by Anthony Trollope, read by Arielle Lipshaw) in this thread?Really good. It was my commuting companion for two months. I've only read two thin..."
I'll be "reading" this in a few months, so thanks for this recommendation!
I tried it, but abandoned the book early. Maybe I'll give it another try.A Librivox recording that I did recently enjoy: Diary of a Pilgrimage.
John wrote: "I tried it, but abandoned the book early. Maybe I'll give it another try.A Librivox recording that I did recently enjoy: Diary of a Pilgrimage."
John - are you referring to the Trollope or Zuleika Dobson?
I abandoned the Trollope recording.
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Not sure if you know this, Josh, but Elizabeth Klett is an American. She's a popular reader on LibriVox. I loved and would highly recommend her reading of Lady Audley's Secret.