Annoying narrators

[Tensy (bookdoyen)]

I am currently listening to The Cookbook Collectorand I am so annoyed by the narrator, Ariadne Meyers, that it is making me want to stop listening and go read the book. Has this happened to you on any other books? She makes every woman sound like a high-pitched 13 year old, even when one of those characters runs a multi-million dollar high-tech business. The only character she does well is a hassidic rabbi. The book is loosely based on Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility and there are a lot of women characters, so I find myself switching to NPR whenever I can't stand the silly voices any longer.

[Carolyn F.]

I love Phil Gigante's male voices, but his female ones are awful to the point where I dislike every female in the audiobooks - whiney and high pitched.

[Megan]

I recently listened to "The History of Love" by Nicole Krauss and I found the narrator who read the character Alma VERY annoying.

[Tensy (bookdoyen)]

Mumbo wrote: "I recently listened to "The History of Love" by Nicole Krauss and I found the narrator who read the character Alma VERY annoying."

That's too bad. I loved this book when I read it. Krauss is an amazing writer and when I read her books I often go back and re-read passages. I have her newest book Great Houseon my nightstand.

[Michelle]

I have just started "Pride and Prejudice" read by Nadia May. I believe the CD quality is extremely bad as it sounds like it was recorded in a credit card customer service call center . I swear I can hear voices in the background. Additionally, Ms May is definitely English which is not bad, but never the less her nasally voice is driving me crazy. I found another version on Overdrive read by Sharon Williams but I can't get it my player to work in my car -so I will probably re-shelve this one to read later.

[John, Moderator]

Interesting as Nadia May is one of the best in the business, IMHO; however, I can see why you find her nasal. If you want a reader who's really a challenge to get used to, try Flo Gibson!

I'm listening to Nadia read Queen Lucia at present, though the sound quality is pretty bad - the Overdrive file is so compressed it's two-dimensional, almost like listening to a broadcast over
AM radio!

[MissSusie]

I remeber listening to Lethally Blond by, Kate White narrated by,Rennee Raudman her male characters all sounded like Marilyn Monroe with a cold it was just awful.
The other two books by, Kate White I'd listened to were narrated by,Kate Walsh and I loved them so when I got done with this one I wasn't sure if it was the book I didn't like or if the narrator just ruined it for me.

[Kaaren]

Robert Stanek The Kingdoms of the Elves series. The story caught my interest but I could NOT get past the annoying narration. Had to give up before I even finished Part 1--wanted to rip off my headphones and throw my iPod across the room!!

[Patricia]

There are wonderful narrators. My favorites are Scott Brick and Dick Hill. I also detest those books that have he said, she said, etc for the whole book. Have pretty much completely switched to audio books so I can sew, quilt, knit, drive, sleep whatever at the same time. :0)

Having said that I did buy an ereader for those warm sunny days at poolside. I think the Kindle is best however it does not download library books so I returned the Kindle and bought a Kobo. The Nook I think is as good as, but I had to decide who would be supporting their ereaders longest Barne & Noble or Borders. Happy listening and reading all.

[Chris]

I realise that lots of people love her, but I cannot listen to Jenny Agutta. I abandoned the Thirteenth Tale read by her and ordered a paperback copy from Amazon!

[Cindee]

So far, the majority of annoying narrators for me have been the authors reading their own books. I hated The Kite Runner and I really think it is because of the author's monotone reading. As far as professional narrators go, I think Patrick Tull is the only one whose voice and style of reading makes me want to scream.

[John, Moderator]

I think we've pretty much agreed here that authors are usually not the best at reading their own work.

I seem to recall Patrick Tull did a good job with Mortimer's "Rumpole of the Bailey" books, but it's been many years since I listened.

[Cindee]

I liked him as narrator of the Brother Cadfael books. But his style of reading made me nuts when I tried to listen to The Confidential Agent. Maybe it's a particular type of book...

[Carolyn F.]

I'm listening to Jan Maxwell narrate Heartbreaker and it's like I'm doing the narration. There is no difference between characters so it's hard to keep track of who is saying what and I just started it!

[Carolyn F.]

I listened to a book last year with two narrators (male and female) and I gave up. It might have been the story but the narrators were awful too!

[John, Moderator]

Some folks don't care for multiple narrators. Then again, I don't recall having listened to that many books where the first-person ("I") point-of-view changes gender within the story.

[John, Moderator]

I have heard them, and have one of their recordings on my TBL pile. However, their stuff tends more to dramatic readings of plays, rather than books.

[Carolyn F.]

I would listen to them. I like the old radio shows.

[Janice]

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova was narrated by two different people, male and female. The male had an amazing ability to use accents and was perfect for this book since there were characters of several nationalities.

Bag of Bones by Stephen King had music in it. He wrote the lyrics and someone else wrote the music. Since the main character continually referred to a particular singer and her band, it was great when "her" songs were played between chapters.

[Ken]

I'd like to nominate: Quincy Tyler Bernstine for the narration of Wench. It was so horrible that I stopped after 20 minutes and decided to read the book instead.

ohhhh, almost forgot... there was another one. It was by Dorthea Benton Frank ( I forget which one) and the author herself was narrating the book. Let me just say that I think she's a great author and all but her dry, raspy smoker's voice doesn't lend itself to the narration of audiobooks. Again, I stopped and read the book instead.

[John, Moderator]

That's funny you should mention "her dry, raspy smoker's voice" -- guess you've not run across the narrator Flo Gibson?

[Bxrlover]

John Elder Robison reading Look me In The Eye was probably the worst narrator I have ever listened to. A close second would be Michael Prichard narrating The World According to Garp.

Both might have been great books, but I could not get past the terrible narration.

[Sandi]

I'm going to state a very unpopular opinion: I really find Simon Vance annoying. He's so monotone and I just can't keep track when he's narrating a story. If he's narrating a book that I really want to read, I'll just get the print version.

I'm trying to listen to Pandora's Star narrated by John Lee. I think he may be even worse than Simon Vance. Not only is he monotone, but he fails miserably at differentiating the characters in dialogue. He tries to give them different accents, but it's all at the same tone and pace. He's especially bad at the women. They don't even sound like drag queens, just men who slur.

[Leanne]

Ohboy. Just got through six chapters of Rennee Raudman narrating Bayou Moon and I can't believe how much she's hamming it up. She's even giving the non-dialogue bits accents.
And all the characters sound like Dolly Parton. Not that there's anything wrong with Dolly...but. ;-)

I'm stopping now and will continue with the actual book at some stage.

[John, Moderator]

Funny, I'm listening to Renee Raudman doing a character with a Southern accent (The Dangerous Edge of Things) and I'm impressed with how subtle she's being about it!

I gave up on John Elder's book as well - just couldn't get into it.

As for Simon Vance, I think he's pretty talented, but gave up on a book of his a while back - he's not a fit for everything requiring an English accent (nor is Nadia May).

[Bxrlover]

Sho wrote: "Robison has Asperger's syndrome, which is the focus of the book. I think part of the point of getting his version (the abridged one) is hearing the story in his voice. There's an unabridged version..."

Good point. However, to me, him narrating his own book is like someone writing a book about not being able to write very well, or singing about having no vocal talent.

[Leanne]

Funny, I'm listening to Renee Raudman doing a character with a Southern accent (The Dangerous Edge of Things) and I'm impressed with how subtle she's being about it!
Yeah well, I'm from Africa so I wouldn't really know a good Southern accent if it hit me over the head. ;D
The Dangerous Edge of Things looks interesting, by the way.

[John, Moderator]

Leanne:

I just listened to the sample of Bayou Moon at Audible, and Renee had barely any accent at all; the narration sounded exactly like her regular, standard American voice. I am not at all Southern myself, so it's not as though I wouldn't hear the difference.
If you go to the Audible sample of The Dangerous Edge of Things, you'll definitely hear her doing a Southern accent!
As a further contrast, try Homer's Odyssey: a Fearless Feline Tale, or How I Learned About Love and Life with a Blind Wonder Cat for a book where Renee uses her own voice (no accent intended) - it's a great story, by the way.

[Leanne]

Ahh. So that's her Southern accent!
I'll have to give poor Renee another chance then. Homer's Odyssey sounds absolutely wonderful- just added it to my TBR list.

[Joy H.]

This topic reminded me of a VERY annoying narrator whom I mentioned in my review of Leap of Faith: Memoirs of an Unexpected Life in 2009. I said:
========================================================
"I am listening to the audio version of this book, _Leap of Faith_. It's being narrated by Suzanne Toren whose delivery I cannot stand. Queen Noor should have recorded the book herself. Queen Noor speaks in the introduction and has a beautiful voice and delivery. She sounds gentle and serene. To me, Toren sounds haughty, pompous, and pretentious. Queen Noor, on the other hand sounds very appealing and likable."
FROM: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
===========================================================
I still remember how annoying it was to listen to Toren's voice and I wonder if other people felt same as I did. I'll bet they did.

[John, Moderator]

Ummm ... actually I kind of like Toren, though she might not have been the greatest choice for that book.

[Joy H.]

That's interesting, John. I can't understand how someone could like her haughty tone of voice. I suppose I should give her another chance with another book sometime.

[Kristine]

I think Roy Dotrice may be my least favorite narrator. I am currently listening to A Game of Thrones, and his voice is really grating plus he overacts stupendously.

[aprilla]

I avoid Anna Fields. In order to read the 1st book of the DD Warren series by Lisa Gardner I did have to listen to her, but only being stubborn got me through it, and this is a favourite series. Luckily the next books have a different narrator.
I would have read her Quincy/Raine series except Anna Fields narrates.

[John, Moderator]

Your task will become easier over time - as you may be aware, she died a couple of years ago in a freak accident. I like(d) her narration, but can understand why perhaps others may find her annoying.

[aprilla]

I wasn't aware, it wasn't such a problem that I looked her up. I'm sorry to hear it.

[Celia]

I got the first two books from the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich from the library. The narrarator was CJ Critt. I really liked her voice. Good inflection and good timing on the punchlines. Then I got the third book on CD, but the cover looked different from the others. I saw the narrator was Lori Petty. Her voice was very monotone, and she sounded like a teenager. Plus, when she spoke like the characters, she sounded like a young Madonna or Marissa Tomei from My Cousin Vinnie. Very annoying. I couldn't stand it. I just checked out the book from the library instead.

[John, Moderator]

You mean Lorelei King? I tried her for one Plum book, sent it back almost immediately, and read the rest of the series in print!

[Celia]

I just looked up the edition that I got, and I think you may be right.

[Heidi]

Lorelei really does grow on you. I swear!

[MissSusie]

John wrote: "You mean Lorelei King? I tried her for one Plum book, sent it back almost immediately, and read the rest of the series in print!"

Heidi (the original) wrote: "Lorelei really does grow on you. I swear!"

I agree Heidi I really like Lorelei I think she does a great job it took me a bit to get used to her but now look forward to the Plum books on audio because of her.

[aprilla]

Susie wrote: "John wrote: "You mean Lorelei King? I tried her for one Plum book, sent it back almost immediately, and read the rest of the series in print!"

Heidi (the original) wrote: "Lorelei really does gr..."


I agree about Lorelei King also, give her a chance :)

[Kristie]

The same thing happened to me with a Joanna Fluke audio book recently. I definitely think they should try to use the same narrators when possible. I'm an avid listener to Janet Evanovich audio books and one of the narrators (not sure of the name) is definitely the one that reads the majority of the books and has the characters down to a science.

[MissSusie]

CJ Critt narrated the first 5 then Lorelei King took over the Stephanie Plum series I liked CJ and it did take me a bit to get used to Lorelei but now I can't imagine anyone else being Stephanie!

[Michael]

I am not crazy about ensemble narration. Even just two voices bugs me. Thoughts?

[MissSusie]

Michael wrote: "I am not crazy about ensemble narration. Even just two voices bugs me. Thoughts?"

I actually enjoy multicast reading especially if say each chapter is from a different character. One of the best multcast out there right now I think is The Help I don't think it would have been as good with just one narrator because there are 4 main charcaters who all have their own chapters

[aprilla]

Susie wrote: "Michael wrote: "I am not crazy about ensemble narration. Even just two voices bugs me. Thoughts?"

One of the best multcast out there right now I think is The Help"...

Normally I would say No!! to two voices or multicast but I do agree that The Help was terrific. If I'd known it was multi I might not have got it... so I have tempered the strength of opinion, just a little bit (notice the small case 'o').
I would still say NO!! if it was read like a play with each character having a reader :)

[John, Moderator]

One that does work well with multi-cast is Jane Austen's Lady Susan - it's a series of letters among several characters.

[Heidi]

Graceling was an excellent full cast audio. It just depends sometimes.

[[deleted user]]

Michael wrote: "I am not crazy about ensemble narration. Even just two voices bugs me. Thoughts?"

Agreed. I much prefer a talented single narrator, no ensembles needed. No "enhanced" audio either...no doors squeaking or slamming, no ocean waves, no screams in the background. Call me a purist.

Just a talented narrator please.